Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The US-based International Housewares Association (IHA) has joined Americans for Affordable Products (AAP): a coalition of 100-plus businesses and trade associations that represent millions of American jobs, to stop the Border Adjustment Tax (BAT).
AAP is running a national campaign to mobilise consumers and show lawmakers that ‘a discriminatory tax on imports will result in their constituents paying higher prices for everyday items such as food, gas, clothing and medicine, and should not be included in tax reform’.
The coalition says BAT, which is a component of the US House Republican tax reform proposal, will ‘significantly hurt American consumers and the nation’s largest employers, by increasing the cost of everyday products’.
It adds that BAT, which would function as a national sales tax, could drive the unemployment rate back to the 2010 highs in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
IHA president & chief executive officer Phil Brandl said: “We view this as an opportunity to lend the resources and leverage of the IHA to AAP.
“Any tax law, however well intended, that adds substantial cost to products and ultimately the consumer, is not a productive law. With the help of IHA members, we will communicate our intense displeasure with the proposed law to all appropriate legislative representation.”
According to the National Retail Federation, upon passage, the BAT will cost American families as much as $1,700. Middle class and low income families who have seen their wages stagnate in recent years would bear the brunt of this new tax because they spend a larger share of their income on tradeable goods that would be hit by BAT.
IHA and AAP point out that while they oppose BAT, they recognise the hard work among members of Congress to reform the tax code. They support the overall effort and hope it can be achieved without hurting middle class American families.
IHA members with questions about BAT or AAP should contact Phil Brandl, at pbrandl@housewares.org
IHA represents more than 1,700 housewares suppliers around the globe. The not-for-profit, full-service association sponsors the International Home + Housewares Show (held every March in Chicago) and offers its member companies a wide range of services.
